Electron discharge tube amplifying, repeating, and modulating circuit arrangements



March 14, 1950 c. w. RICH 2,500,645 ELEc'rRoN DISCHARGE TUBE AMPLIFYING, REPEATING AND noDuLA'rINGv CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS Filed nay 1, 1947 ATTORNEY latented Mar. 14, 1950 ELECTRON DISCHARGE TUBE AMPLIFYING;

REPEATING, AND MODULATING CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS Charles Wilfred Rich, Chelmsford, England, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Radio Corporation of America, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application May 1, 1947, Serial No. 745,316 In Great Britain February 21, 1946 Section 1, Public Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patent expires February 21, 1966 l 6 Claims. l

This invention relates to electron discharge tube amplifying, repeating and modulating circuit arrangements. The invention is primarily designed for use in connection with carrier wave modulating circuits and the major part of the description given herein is concerned with such circuits. The invention is, however, not exclusively limited to this use but as will appear later is applicable to amplifiers and generally to arrangements in which a rectilinear relationship between output current and input voltage is required.

The cathode method of modulating a carrier transmitter is Very popular for low power transmitters and in particular mobile transmitters for the reason that the modulating power required is only a fraction of the transmitter output power so that high over all eiiiciency and low size and weight of the modulator unit are easily achievable. This method of modulation, however, presents a defect that owing to the non-rectilinearity of the anode current-grid voltage characteremployed than is the case with a known trans-` mitter arrangement of comparable design.

According to this invention an electron discharge tube amplifying repeatingV or modulating circuit arrangement comprises an electron discharge tube, means for applying input voltage to an electrode of said tube, means for deriving from a circuit including said tube a voltage dependent upon departures of .said tube from rectilinearity of response, and means for utilising the derived voltage to apply to another electrode of said tube a correcting voltage to correct for said departures.

According to this invention as applied to a cathode modulator circuit arrangement, modulating input is applied across an impedance forming part of a network in the cathode leg of a tube having a carrier input applied to another electrode, and means are provided for deriving from another point of said network a voltage dependent upon departures of said tube from 1 rectilinearity and for utilising said voltage to proistics of tubes, distortion is introduced by theV modulator stage, thisdistortion increasing as the depth of modulation increases. In practice the depth of modulation permissible with known cathode modulator arrangements is about 75%, the distortion increasing so rapidly thereafter as usually to be regarded as becoming intolerable. This limitation in permissible depth of modulation moreover results in loss of range due to the fact that the full power of the transmitter is not utilised While the signal-to-noise ratio for a given amount of noise is reduced as compared to that which would apply were 100% modulation depth achieved.

The presentinventionseeks to overcome the above mentioned difficulties and defects and to provide an improved vcathode modulation arrangement in which 100% modulation or nearly 100% can be achieved without serious or substantial distortion. This object is obtained by means of a'circuit arrangement whereby the effects of non-rectilinearity of the tube characteristic are compensated for.

The achievement of a rectilinear relation between the modulating signal and modulated output over a complete cycle of modulation results in an extremelysmall percentage of harmonic distortion for a 100% modulated carrier. Further since the tube characteristic is in effect made rectilinear and of a slope substantially higher than the mean slope of-a non-rectilinear characteristic over one cycle of modulation, a

modulating signal of smaller amplitude can be 55 vide compensating voltage to an input electrode of said tube other than the cathode.

The invention is illustrated in and further explained in connection withvthe accompanying drawing. Y

Referring to Fig. 1 which shows diagrammatically one way of carrying out this invention audio frequency or other modulating input is applied to the primary winding I of a low frequency transformer 2 with its secondary 3 included between earth or frame and the cathode 4 of the tube 5 on which modulation is to be effected, the end of the secondary 3 remote from earth being connected to the cathode 4 through a resistance 6. A condenser I is connected in parallel with resistance 6 and a resistance consisting of two series portions 8, 9 is connected in parallel with the secondary 3. A tap I0 between the resistance portions 8, 9 is connected through the primary II of a second transformer I2 and a blocking condenser I3 to the cathode 4. A

third resistance I4 is connected in parallel with the primary Il. The secondary I5 of transformer I2 is connected between the control grid I6 of an amplilier tube I1 and earth and is shunted by the usual resistance I8, the cathode I9 of the tube II being connected to earth through a resistance 20. The anode 2| of tube I8 receives anode potential from a source (not shown) connected at HT through an anode resistance 22 and is connected by a condenser 23 in series with an inductance 24 to the control grid 25 of the iirst tube 5. The anode 26 of a third tube 2l which supplies carrier input is connected through a condenser 28 to the control grid 25 oi the rst or modulated tube the said condenser 28 and the inductance 24 having one terminal common as shown. The other terminal of the said inductance 24 is connected to earth through a resistance 29 shunted by a carrier frequency by-pass condenser 30 and another carrier frequency bypass condenser 3| is connected between the cathode 4 of the modulated tube 5 and earth. The blocking condenser' I3 in the circuit of the primary I I of the transformer I2 enables thistransformer to be of the high permeability iron cored type.

'I'he tapped resistance 8-9 across the secondary of the modulation input transformer 2 constitutes a potential divider; the resistance It across the primary I I of the second transformer I2 prevents excessive phase shift at low frequencies; and the condenser I across resistance 6 provides phase correction at high frequency and compensates for` phase shift introduced by the carrier frequency by-pass condenser 3l across the cathode leg. 32, 33 are carrier frequency tuned circuits, the circuit 33 being coupled to the output electrodes of tube 5, including cathode 4, in the usual way.

The operation of the above arrangement will now be described with reference to Fig. 2 which is a conventional graphical representation. In the upper part of this iigure the curve C represents the anode current, (LQ- grid (modulating) voltage (V mod) of tube 5 and has a substantially rectilinear portion between Xand Y. It will be clear that the apparent cathode impedance of the tube 5 will remain constant at the value it has in the absence of a modulating signal input so long as the said input modulating signal does not cause the tube to operate outside the rectilinear regionXY of its characteristic. As soon however as the modulating amplitude becomes high enough to cause the operating point to move outside the vrectilinear region XY the apparent cathode impedance will change considerably from that at carrier level and will vary over a modulation cycle. Since, however, the modulating signal is not applied directly to the cathode of the tube 5 but through the resistance 5, the potential developed across this resistance will be proportional to the input only so long,

as the modulated tube 5 is operating rectilinearly. As soon as there is departure from rectilinearity the potential across this resistance will no longer be directly proportional to the modulating inputlbut will depend upon the new value of apparent cathode impedance. The ratio of the resistance portions 8, 9 on either side of the tap I0 are so chosen that the potential developed across resistance portion 8 is equal to and in opposite phase with the potential across resistance 6. Thus so long as the operating point remains on the rectilinear part XY of the characteristic no` from rectllinearity. The result therefore. is to produce the eilect of a substantially rectilinear characteristic as shown at RC. The central portion of Fig. 2. represents a full wave of modulating voltage input and the lowest portion represents the consequent voltage which appears at the junction of inductance 24 with resistance 29. As above stated the invention is not limited to modulated carrier arrangements. For example, .it could be applied to amplier tube arrangements to give a rectilinear relation between output and input. In such a case the transformer 2 of Fig. 1 would be replaced by an ordinary signal input transformer or equivalent device and the tube 5 would be the amplifiertube whose non-rectilinearity is to be compensated for and would, of course, only receive one current will ow in the branch of the network between the `cathode 4 of the modulated tube and the tap I0.

So soon, however, as departure from rectilinearity occurs a potential. dillerence will be set up between the cathode 4 and the tap I0. This potential diierence isI applied through the transformer I2 and the second or amplifying tube I 1 to the control grid 25 of the modulated tube 5, the sense of the connections being such' that the phase of the potential applied to themodulated tube compensates or substantially compensates for effects oi departure of said modulated tube type of input.

In the arrangement of Fig. 1 the power taken by the tube I1 through which the compensating voltage is applied to tube 5 is quite small and more than compensated for by the resulting increased eiiiciency of the said tube 5.

What is claimed is:

1. An electron discharge tube repeating circuit arrangement, comprising an electron discharge tube having output electrodes including a cathode and having a grid, said cathode being connected to a point of reference potential by a resistor and reactor in series, connections for applying input voltages across said reactor in the cathode leg of said tube, a resistor in shunt to said reactor, a tap on said last-named resistor for deriving a voltage dependent upon departures of said tube from rectilinearity of response to said input voltages, and a circuit coupling said tap to the grid of said tube for utilizing the derived voltage to apply to said grid of said tube a correcting voltageto correct for said departures.

2. A repeating circuit as recited in claim 1 wherein said coupling circuit includes an electronic amplifier device.

3. A repeating circuit as recited in claim 1 wherein said input voltages represent modulating signals and wherein apparatus excited by carrier current to be modulated is coupled to said grid.

4. In a linear system for relaying and modulating alternating currents, a tube having input electrodes including a grid and a cathode and having output electrodes includingan anode coupled to an output circuit, connections to said grid for applying alternating current to be modulated thereto, a resistor and a reactor in series coupling the cathode of said tube to ground, connections for impressing modulating potentials on said reactor, a potentiometer in shunt to said reactor, a transformer having a secondary winding and having a primary winding coupled to said cathode and to a point-on said potentiometer, an electron control device having input electrodes coupled to the secondary winding of said transformer and having output electrodes, an inductance and a resistor in series between the input electrodes of said first-named tube, and a coupling between the output electrodes or said device and the junction point of said inductance 2,600,645 5- charge tube having output electrodes including a REFERENCES CITED cathode and having a grid, a resistive circuit connecting said cathode to a point of reference potential, connections for applying input voltages to vThe following references are of record in the le of this patent:

said resistive circuit in the cathode leg of said 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS tube, means lcoupled to said cathode circuit for Number Name Date deriving a voltage dependent upon departures 2,114,336 Ditcham Apr. 19, 1938 of said tube from linearity of response to said in- 2,261,335 Braden Nov. 4, 1941 put voltages, and a circuit coupling said means 2,335,796 Schrader et a1. Novl 30, 1943 to the grid of said tube for utilizing the derived l0 2,372,101 Madsen Mar. 20, 1945 voltage to apply to said grid of said tube a cor- 2,424,830' Kenefake July 29, 1947 recting voltage to correct for said departures. CHARLES WILFRED RICH. 

